As a cub reporter in Lynchburg more than 30 years ago, I was assigned a story on a visiting rugby team from England. Why the Brits were in our thriving metropolis escapes memory, but my gaffe does not.

During an interview, one of the players referred to his teammates as “blokes.” Alas, I wasn’t paying attention in class the day we learned British slang, and I understood the chap to say “blotes.”

Just last month, while chronicling an interview with ACC commissioner John Swofford, I posted online that major conferences are determined to “affect” radical change of NCAA rules. A friend alerted me to the error — the correct word in this case was “effect” — which I fixed ASAP.

I confess to these bookend blunders, and countless others, to make clear that — editing, spell-check, Webster’s and Google notwithstanding — no one is immune to typos, misused words and mangled syntax.

Which brings us to Virginia football coach Mike London’s gone-viral scholarship offer to Jordan “J.J.” Jackson, a defensive end from Woodgrove High in Purcellville. Jackson committed to the Cavaliers in April, but since the NCAA prohibits written offers prior to Aug. 1 of a prospect’s senior year, his first tangible evidence of his U.Va. offer was London’s letter.

Two days later, an understandably jazzed Jackson tweeted an Instagram of London’s letter.

Not surprisingly, the opening paragraph touts the educational and athletic benefits of such an offer:

Congratulations, you have an opportunity to become an educated man and play great college football. A University of Virginia degree is one of the most prestigious in America. As the head football coach at this University, I want to formerly extend a scholarship offer to you.

Catch it?

The proper word is “formally,” not “formerly,” and suffice to say, the error became a source of amusement for Virginia Tech fans and snarky websites such as Deadspin. Several points:

* The overwhelming volume of mail — snail, electronic, other — generated by a college football program notwithstanding, an official scholarship offer trumpeting the value of education needs to be Bill Safire-pristine. Translation: This was/is embarrassing, and someone — London, an office assistant, Edgar Allan Poe Professor Ann Beattie — should have caught the mistake.

* If London actually wrote the letter, I’ll be returning kickoffs for the Cavaliers this season. That’s not absolving him, just acknowledging reality. Major college football coaches are CEOs, not pen pals.

* Who was, emphasis on past tense, London’s ghostwriter? Did John Ballein sabotage his laptop?

* Programs such as Virginia recruit dozens of prospects, so chances are Jackson’s isn’t the only letter that “formerly” offers a grant-in-aid.

* Here’s wagering the English departments at Virginia, Harvard, Cal-Berkeley, Duke, Johns Hopkins — you name the place — send correspondence with the occasional comma splice.

* Another bet: Someone in Virginia’s athletic department with an English degree and/or keen eye has inherited proofreading duties for scholarship offers.

* At last check, none of the players committed to London’s 2014 recruiting class, including headliners Quin Blanding of Virginia Beach’s Bayside High and Andrew Brown of Chesapeake’s Oscar Smith, had professed outrage at the letter. Nor had any prospect still considering the Cavaliers.

* Similarly, a quick Google search reveals a 2012 House of Representatives bill that called for 94 percent unemployment. But my favorite stumble comes from colleague Dave Johnson, who fondly remembers calling the Baltimore Skipjacks hockey team the "Flapjacks." Perhaps he was hungry on deadline?

I requested a phone audience with London on Wednesday to discuss the recruiting letter. Through athletic department spokesman Jim Daves, he declined, and I’m not sure I blame him. With five new assistant coaches, opening games against Brigham Young and Oregon, and a program staggered by four losing seasons in the last five years, he has more pressing matters than rehashing a language misstep.

Besides, who am I to judge? My column Wednesday misspelled the last name of former Virginia assistant women’s basketball coach Ashley Earley.